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Genealogists like to think of themselves as time unravelers and often are accused of living in the past lane. If you are ready to research your family history and make some waves in the old gene pool, then read on.

The most widely used public record genealogical resources are federal census enumerations, military service/pension records, and birth, marriage, and death records. Thanks to state employees Barbara Heflin and Karl Moore, (and a host of volunteers like Fred Delap of the Edgar County Genealogical Society), many of these records appear in online databases at the Illinois State Archives http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/archives.html. Since there are now over 50 of these searchable indices, the Archives has instituted a "Global Database Search" that allows you to enter one name and search all systems at once. Hyperlinked results show where information about your ancestor might be located. The most popular of the ISA's ten military databases is "Illinois Civil War Veterans," which allows you to search by person, regiment, or town. If you are looking for an Illinois man who fought for another state (such as Galesburg's Joseph Barquet, who was in the Glory regiment), try the National Park Service's online list of all Civil War participants at http://www.itd.nps.gov/ewss/http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/datcivil.htm.

The Archive's statewide marriage record project has been going on for over 20 years. Volunteers have completed work on 88 of Illinois' 102 counties and only four counties refuse to participate. Marriages start as early as 1813 and most run up to 1900. Copies ol marriage licenses before 1916 can only be found in the office of county clerk, while those after 1915 can also be found with the Department of Public Health http://www.idph.state.il.us/vitalrecords/marriageinfo.htm. In Illinois, divorce records can only be found in the court in which the D-I-V-O-R-C-E took place. For a list of these Circuit Courts see http://www.state.il.us/court/CircuitCourts/County.asp.

Death records and obituaries are great sources of information. If you know the subject of your search died in Illinois between 1916 and 1950, you can search the surname database at the Illinois State Archives hitp://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/idphdeathindex.html. Because of the tremendous demand for these records, Archives' staff no longer copy and mail death certificates to requestors. You can come to Springfield to copy the record yourself at the Archives for one dollar, or you may request a certified copy of a death certificate for any year from the County Clerk in the county where the death took place http://www.idph.state.il.us/vitalrecords/countylisting.htm. In Springfield or online, you may also request a search or order copies of post-1915 Death Certificates from the Illinois Department of Public Health Vital Records Division http://www.idph.state.il.us./vitalrecords/deathinfo.htm at a cost of between ten and seventeen dollars. The Illinois State Genealogical Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~-ilsgs/ will perform a death index search for you for a small fee. This is an organization all Illinois researchers should consider joining and supporting.

If your relative died alter 1937 and made a Social Security claim, try the Social Security Death Index http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/, which can be searched free of charge at Roots Web. This site will help you generate a form letter to the U.S. Social Security Administration requesting a facsimile of the original application your subject filled out when requesting a Social Security number. A "Google" search for obituaries in Illinois may reveal other sites for very specific local information such as the Oak Lawn Public Library name index to over 145,000 obituaries and death notices found in that area's newspapers from January 1, 1985 to December 31, 2003 at http://www.lib.oaklawn.il.us/olpl/Obits.htm.

Birth records in Illinois before 1916 can only be found with the county clerks. The Division of Vital Records http://www.idph.state.il.us/vitalrecords/birth.htm can search the entire state for births after 1915 and supply you with a certificate for a small fee. Until recently, information about adoptions in Illinois was strictly taboo. Now an Adoption Registry on the Vital Records web site provides a means whereby registrants can authorize or prohibit the release of identifying information, including a copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate.

There are several sources for ethnic, religious, am naturalization records online in Illinois. Barbara Heflin explains the nature of naturalization records and lists nearly 1,000 from Ogle County at http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/oglc.html. You can search immigration records of people passing through Lllis Island at http://www.ellisisland.org/ and seek help for locating ethnic groups by "Czeching Out" such online resources as the Czech and Slovak American (Genealogical Society of America http:/www.csagsi.org/. The Archives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is in Illinois http://www.clca.org/archives/chicagochurches/chicago.html and much inlormation about Chicago area churches can be found online.

African-American genealogical research at the Illinois State Archives is explained in an online pamphlet at http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/research series/rseries6.html and the names of hundreds of Illinois slaves and indentured servants can be found at http://www.sos.state.il.us/departments/archives/servant/html.

Finally, after you have devoted years to tracing your roots, just remember, old genealogists never die, they just lose their census.

Mark Sorensen is the official Macon County Historian and maintains the Illinois History Resource Page at http://www.historyillinois.org/hist.html.